White Balance
by yuuyas
Summary: Modeling is pretty easy, especially if you just smile at the person behind the camera. Kise x OC
1. Autofocus

**A/N:** Hm? Oh, hi there! Enjoy watching me trek cluelessly through KnB territory. I'm pretty sure I still have two papers to finish, three exams to prepare for, and a couple more reports to put together. I maybe have a general idea of the general direction I want to go with, but nothing too concrete. It's just, this one has been written for about a month or so already, and you can expect the next chapter in, like, a couple dozen years, OTL. Plot suggestions are most welcome!

* * *

" . . . Interview?"

The editor-in-chief winks and sends her a quick grin, one hand in front of his face in an apologetic gesture.

"Sorry, but we really need someone to cover it. The Hasegawa twins had to go to Hokkaido because of a family emergency, so the sports department is a little understaffed. I was planning on having you go take some pictures anyway, so you might as well do the interview, too. It'll probably be difficult because of Kasamatsu-san's condition, but I guess you can just stick to asking the coach for his comments. In end, the answers are all pretty generic anyway."

" . . . I am a _photographer_."

The editor-in-chief's grin strains a bit. "I really, really need you to do this, Nishino. I just need you to ask a couple of questions and Hasegawa-otouto will do the write-up. Record it on your phone or something, and we'll send it over to him through email. We're already running late on next week's issue. Pretty please?" He pulls out his last card for good measure. "I'll let you handle the photo montage for the cultural festival article—two double spreads, full color, free reign."

She is bought.

* * *

_Chapter One_ | **Autofocus**

* * *

The sky is cutting into the earth again.

The hot red of the late afternoon sun bleeds into the horizon past the steel and glass corners of Kaijou's buildings. Flecks of orange and yellow reflect off of the mirror-like surfaces, drowning the vast sports complex in a warm light. Inside the gymnasium, the members of the basketball team race across the floors, shirts drenched in sweat as they go through their regular exercises.

"No team is perfect, and we still have a long way to go," the team's coach, a rather round man with slight stubble on his chin, says. "It's unfortunate that we weren't able to win at the Inter-High, but we're proud to have made it as far as we did. Now, we're focusing on building up our members' individual abilities more, and, of course, team play is also important. We've set our sights for the Winter Cup, and we're hoping our hard work will pay off."

"Thank you for your time, Coach Takeuchi." The black-haired girl lets down her phone, quickly tapping on the screen, saving the sound recording of his words. She smiles at him politely, "Would it be fine to ask for comments from the captain as well? And we'd be very grateful if you could allow for a few pictures of practice. Of course, if possible, we'd also like to get a picture of your excellent coaching in action."

" . . . I suppose it won't hurt," the coach relents a bit too easily. He turns to the group practicing rebounds by one of the hoops, barking out, "Kasamatsu! Get over here!"

The spiky-haired captain glances over to their coach and immediately stiffens. He manages to quickly pick up on what is wanted from him, and he turns sharply on his heel, grabbing a certain blonde first year by the back of his shirt.

"Ahh! Kasamatsu-senpai!" Kise complains, arms flailing as he is pulled down to his senior's level. His torso twists over Kasamatsu's iron grip, fighting to regain balance. "That hurts!"

"You're coming with me," Kasamatsu growls dangerously into his ear, dragging their whining ace across the floor as they head towards the gym's entrance, where their coach is standing next to the reporter from the school paper.

Their stocky coach arches an eyebrow in question but quickly dismisses the thought. "Ah, well. This is the captain, Kasamatsu Yukio, and our first year regular, Kise Ryouta, of the Generation of Miracles."

Free from his captain's clutches, Kise turns to face the girl standing in their company. She is quite small, but then again, compared to him, everyone is a bit on the short side. Her black hair is cut just past her shoulders in a straight and blunt line, and her bangs sweep off to one side of her forehead, pinned back by two sunflower hairclips. She wears the regular Kaijou girls' uniform—a pleated, dull gray skirt and the plain white blouse of the summer uniform. Around her neck hangs a very expensive-looking camera, much like the ones professional photographers he works with use, with just as big lenses and just as many other little attachments with functions he honestly has no clue of. She veers a bit more towards pretty than average, but still, her face is nothing spectacular.

"My name is Nishino Naruko," she introduces herself with a bow. Her tone of voice is professional and detached, but somehow welcoming all the same. She must have been quite good at her job, because her tone is perfectly matched with a certain kind of the professional reporters he talks to. His manager has warned him to be especially carefully with those types. "I'm from the school paper. I was wondering whether you have any comments on the team's performance in the recent Inter-High, especially in that last game against Touou Academy? Like, how did it affect the team's spirit and morale, and what do you plan to do from now on?"

"_Guuh . . ._ " Kise's hands grab for his side, where Kasamatsu has painfully dug his fist. Turning his head to complain, Kise's words hitch at the back of his throat.

Kasamatsu is wide-eyed, sweating buckets, and stiff as a board, lips tightly pressed together as he stares at something just beyond the reporter's head. Belatedly, he realizes that the captain is not really twisting his fist into his side, but rather, it is shaking quite uncontrollably, along with the rest of his arm.

_The most Kasamatsu has said to a girl is, 'Nn,' and, 'No.'_ Kobori-senpai's words from that last disaster of an outing they had rings solemnly in the back of his head.

Internally, Kise weeps. In this kind of situation, his captain's inability to speak to those of the female gender is just too pitiful. What if he's interviewed by a female for college entrance exams? Or in trying to get a job? How does his captain deal with waitresses and ladies staffing the cash registers at department stores and supermarkets? Does he just avoid the female ones and head straight to the male ones? How does he deal with his mother and other female family members? Surely, it can't be that bad as to be unable to talk with family members, but the entire idea of it is pathetic all the same.

Kise Ryouta worries for Kasamatsu Yukio's future.

From the corner of his eye, he can spot the other three regulars stopping practice altogether and instead opting to watch them with blatant curiosity. And slowly but surely, the rest of the basketball team's members are also opting to watch the exchange instead of practicing.

The coach is glaring at him now, too. His eyes scream, "_Say something! Don't make her write an article about how the basketball team is full of awkward idiots (even though it really is)!_"

Internally, Kise weeps. Just because he is also a model doesn't mean he is an expert at dealing with the press. After that crushing defeat at the hands of Aominecchi, even he is feeling a little down. He has no pretty words ready to dish out for situations like this.

The reporter girl, Nishino Naruko, blinks and tilts her head, holding out a sleek black phone in a black leather case. On the screen, he sees a big red circle and a timer running below it. She waits patiently for his answer as Kasamatsu digs his fist into his side again.

"_Oww_—umm . . . well, that match against Aominecchi was really exhilarating. It's unfortunate that we weren't able to win, but . . . uh, we'll definitely get them back at the Winter Cup, maybe. Right now, uh, let's see—we're all focusing on training and preparing for the next tournament so that we can, um, bring pride and glory to the school, yeah." Kise stumbles over his pointless and barely-answering-the-question reply. He is glad that the reporter seems like a nice, polite girl, instead of some voracious Hollywood-star-hunting-paparazzi-wannabe. She simply smiles tentatively at them as her gaze flicks over to where Kasamatsu's fist is digging so hard into his side that he is practically punching his liver now.

When she realizes that he has no more words to say, she brings down the hand holding on to the phone and nods. She thanks them a bit too kindly as she taps away on her phone, slipping it back into her pocket. Coach Takeuchi dismisses both captain and ace with a dirty look as he steps forward to exchange a few more words with the reporter girl.

"What the hell was that?" Kasamatsu hisses, knocking a fist over the back of the blonde's head. "That was the _stupidest_ reply you could've given! Hayakawa could've said something with more substance and nobody understands half of what he says!"

"I'm sorry~" Kise whines. "It was the best I could come up with on the spot."

"Idiot," the the third-year sighs. Kise thinks that he's being let off easily this time because even Kasamatsu acknowledges his own uselessness in the situation. The captain scratches the back of his head tiredly. "Whatever. She's probably going to hang around to take pictures. You can at least make the team look good at that, right?"

Kasamatsu's tone is dry as he arches a single, challenging eyebrow at Kise.

The blonde huffs, pumping a fist to his chest. "Leave it to me."

Kasamatsu simply shakes his head. "Just . . . keep her away from Moriyama. She might get annoyed by him and write a bad article on us. I don't want a repeat of what happened with that other reporter last year."

Curious, Kise arches an eyebrow, waiting for his captain to continue. But Kasamatsu says no more and simply gives him an expectant look.

Kise sighs. It is a story for another time then (or he could get it from Hayakawa or Kobori after practice). "You can count on me, senpai~"

* * *

Reporter girl loiters around the edge of the court, taking photographs of random things as she adjusts the settings of her camera to best fit with the lighting and scenery of the gym. After a few minutes, she starts wandering around and taking pictures of members as they go through their exercises. Kise finds himself a bit impressed by how she moves much like a real professional photographer—moving around to get different angles, squatting low, stepping up some of the benches for a bird's eye view a couple of times, often fiddling with her camera. At first, the members tensed when she came close, but soon enough, it was like they didn't even notice her.

_Uwaah~ She's like Kurokocchi~_ he finds himself thinking, lips quirking up at the thought. Even Kasamatsu-senpai is barking out orders like usual even though she was standing just a few feet behind him. She flits around quietly for the most part, though she seems to linger around the group that's playing a mini-game a bit longer than in others.

It takes a while, but she eventually reaches where he is doing some shooting drills with a few others. She hangs back a bit behind the post, crouching down with the camera angled up towards the hoop.

"Nakamura-senpai," he calls out to the glasses-wearing shooting guard. Nakamura glances over his way and throws the ball into his open hands, and Kise drives forward powerfully before executing an impressive dunk.

The familiar flash and click reach his eyes, and his mouth pulls into an automatic grin. He hangs from the basket a bit before nimbly landing back on the floor.

Reporter girl lowers the camera from her face and looks at him with a raised eyebrow. Kise keeps the grin on his face as her eyes glance down to check the picture she had taken.

"Did you get it?" he asks amiably as he steps toward her crouched form. "If not, I could it again."

" . . . I got it," she replies smoothly as she stands up, holding the camera up to her face again.

Almost by instinct, Kise's inner model takes over, and he strikes a pose and puts on his face just in time for the shutter to click and the flash to burst.

She has that same look with the raised eyebrow on her face when she lowers the camera again. She sighs, smiling slightly at him while shaking her head before walking away.

"Ehh? You're going already?"

She glances at him over her shoulder, raising the camera slightly. The curve of her mouth looks more like a smirk than a smile, and there is something oddly overpowering about the gleam in her eyes. "I think I have enough pictures."

She walks toward Coach Takeuchi to announce her departure. Kise feels a weight over his shoulders and a fist digging into his left temple.

"You rascal!" Moriyama growls as he grinds his fist into the side of Kise's head for a noogie. "The least you could've done was get her number for me!"

"Ow ow ow! Moriyama-senpai! It _hurts_~~~!"


	2. Landscape

**A/N:** Wooooow, I did not expect to get this up so soon, nor did I expect to write this when I still have those papers to write and those exams to study for, but since next week is finals week, everything ends one way or the other, so, uhh, pray for my soul, m'kay? Honestly, I have no idea where I pulled this chapter from, but I was just so giddy with all the reviews and follows and favorites that I couldn't do anything school-related, HAHAHAHAAAAH. Sighs.

**SnowstormX:** Omigosh, I do not deserve such adjectives. I'm squealing and blushing right now. Kyaaaaaaa. ^/ / /^ And, ugh, yes, Nakamura needs more love. Those glasses turn me on so muuuuuch. I'll try to include him as much as I can, along with the other Kaijou regulars.  
**Otaku-neku:** Thanks for the review! For now, I won't give any expectations about updates, but my minimum time to write a chapter is usually a week, unless I have the next ones pre-written. As for the rating, hm. I actually rated this K+ because I don't really plan on making this to heavy, but I guess we'll have to wait and see since, uhh, there is no concrete plan in the first place, OTL. I'm glad you like the idea of Kise with a photographer! The idea was actually reversed when I first thought about it for a different anime series—there is a guy photographer character, and I imagined a female model OC.  
**LeoInuyuka:** HMMM. IDEA.

Whew. Okay, enough of my babbling. Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Kise finds himself a bit surprised at how he could have missed something so obvious.

"Nishino, g'morning!"

"Yo, Nishino!"

He presses his lips together in a thin, strained smile. Never did he think it possible that he would be lowered to Murasakicchi's level.

Oh, the irony.

Reporter girl faithfully replies to every greeting. Her clip today bears the design of a cartoon skull, and she wears a bit more make-up than before. She also seems to have gotten a haircut overnight as well—the bluntly cut black locks now had more shape because of the layered style—

He nudges the guy beside him.

"Hey, does Nishino have a sister?"

The guy regards him curiously with a raised eyebrow. "Huh? Nishino? Yeah, she has an older sister, remember? The photographer girl, Nikon-senpai—she even came to our classroom once. They looked so much alike standing next to each other that we mistook them for twins."

Kise nods rather sagely. Even he is somewhat impressed at his own mental prowess—he clearly remembers the white letters printed onto her camera and is able to immediately piece together the reason behind her interesting nickname.

"Why the sudden interest in Nishino's older sister?" his brown-haired classmates asks, before adopting a bothered expression. "Wait, Kise—seriously, man, if you're gonna start going after girls with boyfriends, even _you're_ going to get clobbered—"

"She has a boyfriend?" Kise finds himself unexpectedly surprised at that little bit of info. He admits that reporter girl is kind of pretty, in a kind of traditional way with her straight black hair, dainty features, and very nice posture, but there is something about her that gives off a sense of independence—that she is the type to not need someone else by their side.

His classmate furrows his brows. "Well, yeah. Yaoya-senpai made a pretty big deal out of it when she finally accepted his confession just before the summer break started. Plus, he's always all over her."

"Hoooh." Kise wracks his brains, trying to recall this Yaoya-senpai—it is an unusual surname after all, so he thinks that he should be able to remember it. Unfortunately, he comes up at a blank. He does not remember any incidents about someone making a fuss out of an accepted confession either. The time period mentioned was after their defeat at Seirin's hands, and just before the preliminaries. He had had nothing but basketball in his head then.

His classmate snaps his fingers in front of his face, breaking Kise away from his thoughts. "Dude, seriously. Yaoya-senpai is an idiot who embarrasses himself a lot, but he's a still delinquent with a record. He'll beat you to a pulp, model and basketball ace or not—actually, he might just screw you over even more."

"It's not like I'm interested in her like that," Kise replies blandly. "She just dropped by to interview the basketball team last week, so I got curious."

"Whatever, man," his classmate shakes his head. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

* * *

_Chapter Two_ | **Landscape**

* * *

"_Oh, hello, Kise-kun? Look, I know you said you're extending your break until after your winter tournament thing, but Nao-chan cornered me during lunch to ask about you. Apparently, a spot recently opened up in a catalog job because one of the models had to back out last minute. It's for the winter campaign of a kimono shop—Tozainanboku. The pay's very good, and it's near your area. The owner is pretty distinguished, so the agency really doesn't want to screw this up. Sorry to ask on such short notice, but can you at least consider?_"

The arrival of a new school term means the next installment of his older sister's college tuition loan is due, and the conclusion of the Inter-High has left him in need of some new basketball shoes. While he has already decided to extend his modeling hiatus—the loss at the Inter-High was particularly hard, and the Winter Cup promises to be a brutal competition—these two expenses have made a sizeable dent in his personal savings. He is well-aware that his parents can cover these costs with money to spare, but they are responsibilities he had taken on, and he wants to properly see them through. After all, he owes his modeling career to Ryouko-nee, and basketball is something he takes very seriously.

Kise transfers his phone from his right ear to his left as he walks to the bus stop after practice. "Hmm . . . Kimono, huh? It does sound interesting."

"_It's a one day gig—8 to 5, and they'll even cover lunch for all the models and their handlers for free. The photoshoot is scheduled for this Sunday. You don't have basketball training Sundays, right? Your portfolio was actually shortlisted in the initial meeting, but since you're on break . . ._"

Kise considers the offer. It does sound good, and a quick break from all the basketball just might be what he needs before diving into training for the Winter Cup. "Can I look over the details first?"

"_Of course, of course! I'll forward you the papers, including a copy of the contract. I'm sending them over now. Check your email when you get home. Don't forget to have your sister look it over, 'kay? Try to get back with your answer ASAP. Before tomorrow noon, at the latest._"

"Will do. Thanks a lot, Sakicchi." Kise puts his phone back in his pocket after hanging up. He approaches his stop to find a familiar face standing there, phone in hand.

He readjusts the strap of his bag on his shoulder, calling out her name. "Nishino-senpai."

She does not look up and he finally notices the ear buds she is wearing. He walks forward, and just as he is about to tap her on the shoulder, she seems to notice his presence and looks up.

"Yo," he smiles amiably, raising a hand in greeting.

She raises a brow at him. The look seems far more familiar than he expects it to be. "Who're you?"

Kise's smile falters a bit. He blinks and points to himself. "Kise Ryouta. I'm on the basketball team."

"Ah, wait—" she pulls off one of her ear buds. "Sorry, what?"

Kise presses his lips together, but keeps the smile on his face nonetheless. "Kise Ryouta. I'm on the basketball team," he repeats.

"Oh, sure." She pauses a bit before slightly tilting her head. "Did you want something?"

"Well, um," he scratches the back of his head. "I didn't know senpai took this bus as well."

"I don't," she replies bluntly. "I need to drop by somewhere."

Somehow, Nishino Naruko is completely different from the expectations he built after their first meeting. She had been cordial when she talked to him as a reporter, but now he gets the feeling that she was only doing her job. Her honest lack of interest in him shows in her frank words and almost frightening ability to kill conversation instantly. She reminds him of a couple of models he knows—they have an absolutely stunning range of expressions when in front of a camera, but are painfully dull elsewhere.

Professionalism is a scary thing.

"I see. That explains why I've never really seen you here before."

"Is that so."

When an awkward silence passes through them, she puts the removed ear bud back into her ear and turns away from him.

The air between them quickly turns stale, and it is especially uncomfortable since they are the only ones in the bus stop. Kise fidgets a bit with the strap on his bag. He glances at her and finds her holding up her black phone to the sky, catching the vibrant oranges, yellows, and reds. Looking through her phone's screen, the colors shift and wave at every subtle change of angle. Finally, her hands freeze with a natural steadiness, and she taps the capture icon with her thumb.

The colors blend into each other so perfectly that he never would have thought that it is photograph.

"Uwaah, that's really nice."

She seems to acknowledge that he had said something, and she glances over him once again. As she removes one ear bud again, he tells her, "Nishino-senpai has a good eye for color."

"Sadly not," she sighs as she presses her thumb to the screen again, taking another picture of the sunset gradient. "I never would have chosen to go to Kaijou if I did."

Kise hides a snicker behind his hand. While the athletic clubs don the regal blue that Kaijou's sports teams are known for, their school uniforms are an admittedly sad shade of gray.

Something in that short exchange seems to have broken the ice between them, and she rewards him with a smile.

"Do you always take this bus?"

"Yep~" Kise replies with a light-hearted tinker to his voice. "What's the place senpai needs to go to?"

"Yaoya's been absent for a while." She holds up a paper bag containing stapled stacks. "The teachers asked me to drop this off at his place."

"Yaoya-senpai is Nishino-senpai's boyfriend, right?" Kise confirms. "I didn't know we took the same bus."

"Well, he doesn't have any clubs, so he probably takes an earlier one," Nishino replies. The end of her sentence is a bit drowned out by the hum of an engine. The bus they're waiting for comes to a stop in front of them.

"Where do you get off?" Kise asks as they board from the door at the back. Nishino takes a seat at a bench somewhere in the middle, and he takes the spot beside her.

"Itsuzaki."

Kise nods. "It's two stops after mine."

"Then, Kise-kun lives in . . . " she glances up, looking at the sign running along the length of the bus that identifies all the stops, "Toribayashi?"

"Yup. I live in an apartment with my older sister. She goes to a nearby university."

"What about your parents?"

"In Tokyo. I'm originally from Tokyo," he explains. "Ryouko-nee was already staying here when I graduated from middle school, and I wanted to go to a school with a strong basketball team."

"Oh? You weren't recruited?" she asks curiously.

Kise shrugs. "I got lots of offers, but I never really managed to go through them all. Ryouko-nee told me about Kaijou early on—the sports program was good, and if I stayed with her, the commute wouldn't be a hassle. My modeling agency also has a branch office nearby, so the decision was pretty easy to make." He sends her another smile. "What about senpai?"

"Me? Oh, I've always lived here—in Kikachou," she replied. "My parents' work is based in Yokohama."

"What do they do?" Kise asks.

"They both work for the Bank of Yokohama."

"Oh? Actually, that's kind of unexpected," Kise admits. "How did senpai get into photography?"

"It's not really a complicated story—Natsuki's hobby is cosplaying. She takes me along for her conventions, and my interest in photography grew from there."

It takes a few seconds for him to piece it all together. "Oh—your sister, right?" Yes, Nishino-imouto is always the first one to get the most recent issue of _JUMP_, which then passes hands around the classroom from there. If he recalls correctly, she is also the go-to person for anyone stuck in _Monster Hunter_.

Nishino nodded. "Our father is actually a fan of manga—I guess that's where Natsuki and I get it from."

"What series does senpai read?"

"I actually prefer sports series," she admits with a small smile. "Natsuki prefers battles and fantasy stuff, and recently, Dad's been getting into mecha."

"Nishino-otou-san sounds like a cool dad," Kise comments with an amused tone.

"He is," Nishino agrees proudly. Her bright smile is all he needs to confirm that she very dearly loves her father.

"All I've seen my old man read are newspapers and the stuff for his work." Kise shrugs. "He doesn't really read much—his hobby is watching variety shows."

"Hm," Nishino frowns and tilts her head. "I don't really watch much TV asides from anime. The only one who really uses it is Mama, and she always just has it on the news channel."

"Well, there are plenty of interesting variety shows out there. Senpai should try some," he encouraged. "Voice actors sometimes appear as guests."

"I watch clips online at times," she replies noncommittally. "But honestly, most of the time, I really don't get the point of what they're doing."

"The point is that there isn't one," Kise grins. "They just want to make everyone laugh and enjoy themselves."

"Is that so?" Nishino seems to have a troubled look on her face. "Well, Yaoya does say my sense of humor isn't normal . . . "

There is a click, and a computerized voice echoes through the sound system of the bus. "_Approaching Toribayashi. Toribayashi._"

"Oh. That's my stop." Kise reaches over to a button beside the window and presses it down. He stands up, pulling out his IC card from his pant pocket. "It was nice talking to you, senpai. Take care."

"You too, Kise-kun," Nishino replies. "See you around at school."

"Feel free to drop by practice again," he says with a grin. "I'll put on a good show so you can take more pictures."

And there is that smile that looks more like a smirk again, but something seems to have changed in the gleam of her eye.

"I'll be holding you to that offer then."

* * *

**Note 1:** No, I do not own _Nikon_, _JUMP_ or _Monster Hunter_. Nor do I own the Bank of Yokohama. I ALSO DO NOT OWN _KUROKO NO BASUKE_. SHUCKS, I nearly forgot the disclaimer again, orz.  
**Note 2:** My Japanese geography is whack. Do not take anything seriously.  
**Note 3:** I also do not know how the modeling industry works, aside from what could be gleaned from _America's Next Top Model_, but that's a different facet of the business altogether.  
**Note 4:** Kise's sister's name is not yet revealed in canon (as far as I know), but due to popular opinion in the fandom . . . In any case, I WILL BE SO DISAPPOINTED IF IT'S NOT 'RYOUKO'.


End file.
